Tragedy in LA

[SlickWillie71]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/train_collision

Obviously with Ike dominating the news, this has sadly taken a back page, but still major news. The death toll is expected to rise considerably.

 

[Boom_70]

Hopefully ESPN stops promoting O STATE / USC as "Crash at the Coliseum"

 

[imjustagirl]

Terrible news. I'll keep my fingers crossed for the best possible finish.

 

[Smallpotatoes]

Death toll is about 15-20 last I heard, including one member of the LAPD.

 

[CentralIllinoisan]

Hopefully ESPN stops promoting O STATE / USC as "Crash at the Coliseum"

Is that true? Yeah, that needs to stop now.

 

[Wenders]

Hopefully ESPN stops promoting O STATE / USC as "Crash at the Coliseum"

Actually, it's the Collision at the Coliseum. Still overhyped. It's still the third week of the season, a win or loss here will not break either team's national championship/BCS bowl hopes. It's just all hype because the game is on ESPN.

This whole thing is a complete tragedy. Immediately afterwards, they were saying it was highly unlikely that anyone who was inside who hadn't already gotten out was alive. They basically called it a recovery mission. Sad. Incredibly sad.

 

[slappy4428]

Hopefully ESPN stops promoting O STATE / USC as "Crash at the Coliseum"

Vince Doria apologized and said it should have never happened.

 

[Boom_70]

Hopefully ESPN stops promoting O STATE / USC as "Crash at the Coliseum"

Is that true? Yeah, that needs to stop now.

Yes true - hopefull Musberger will not be screaming it as part of opening tonight.

 

[JackReacher]

Hopefully ESPN stops promoting O STATE / USC as "Crash at the Coliseum"

Apparently, all references to the Collision at the Coliseum have been removed from ESPN.com and ESPN TV.

 

[buckweaver]

Metrolink says its engineer ran a red light to cause the crash. Death toll up to 24. (LAT via LAObserved)

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-traincrash14-2008sep14,0,3660884.story

 

[Birdscribe]

On top of that, reports coming in this morning that he ran the red light because he was:

Wait for it. . .

DISTRACTED BY A TEXT MESSAGE.

**** me. :'(

If this is true, the guy paid for his stupidity with his life. Problem was, he took two dozen innocents with him. :'( :'( :'(

 

[poindexter]

On top of that, reports coming in this morning that he ran the red light because he was:

Wait for it. . .

DISTRACTED BY A TEXT MESSAGE.

**** me. :'(

If this is true, the guy paid for his stupidity with his life. Problem was, he took two dozen innocents with him. :'( :'( :'(

Link?

 

[SoCalDude]

On top of that, reports coming in this morning that he ran the red light because he was:

Wait for it. . .

DISTRACTED BY A TEXT MESSAGE.

**** me. :'(

If this is true, the guy paid for his stupidity with his life. Problem was, he took two dozen innocents with him. :'( :'( :'(

Link?

http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2008/09/engineer_texted_with_teen.php

 

[imjustagirl]

I guess my question involves how these things are set up. It seems insane to me there would be one light to tell a train to stop, because it takes those things a while to power down. I'd think there would have to be multiple lights along the way, all red, to tell him to slow it down. But I don't know that for sure.

Either way, an absolute horror.

 

[Angola!]

Did he put the brakes on at all? I know it's impossible to stop a train quickly, but just curious if both trains were going full speed when they hit.

 

[buckweaver]

Damn. As a self-admitted serial texter, I'm in no position to speak. ... But that is beyond stupid.

And I had the same thought IJAG did. I have a hard time believing there was one stop light that the engineer just missed because his eyes were on his phone. Seems like there would be a series of signals, and enough time for a large train to slow down safely.

 

[BYH]

Damn. As a self-admitted serial texter, I'm in no position to speak. ... But that is beyond stupid.

I'm with you, word for word.

 

[imjustagirl]

Damn. As a self-admitted serial texter, I'm in no position to speak. ... But that is beyond stupid.

I'm w/ u, w4w.

 

[BYH]

Awesum. wht r u doing l8r?

 

[OTD]

Damn. As a self-admitted serial texter, I'm in no position to speak. ... But that is beyond stupid.

And I had the same thought IJAG did. I have a hard time believing there was one stop light that the engineer just missed because his eyes were on his phone. Seems like there would be a series of signals, and enough time for a large train to slow down safely.

Damn. As a self-admitted serial texter, I'm in no position to speak. ... But that is beyond stupid.

And I had the same thought IJAG did. I have a hard time believing there was one stop light that the engineer just missed because his eyes were on his phone. Seems like there would be a series of signals, and enough time for a large train to slow down safely.

Nope. When they see one red signal, that means stop. The signals usually run by "blocks" and if it's red, it means there's an obstruction in the next block. They're supposed to be watching these very closely. They usually also radio the conductor that there's a red signal and the conductor confirms.

The texting deal is still unconfirmed, btw.